Riceland Health Care buys Altus Imaging Center

Published 9:47 am, Thursday, September 10, 2015

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

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Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also president. Riceland now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent less

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also ... more

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

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Riceland Health Care now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent

Riceland Health Care now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

Image 3 of 9

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also president. Riceland now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent less

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also ... more

Photo: Kim Brent

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Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, greets Nick Lampson, Vice President of Operations for Riceland Health Care, as he prepares to discuss his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also president. Riceland now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent less

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, greets Nick Lampson, Vice President of Operations for Riceland Health Care, as he prepares to discuss his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider ... more

Photo: Kim Brent

Image 5 of 9

Riceland Health Care now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent

Riceland Health Care now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent

Photo: Kim Brent

Image 6 of 9

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also president. Riceland now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent less

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also ... more

Photo: Kim Brent

Image 7 of 9

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also president. Riceland now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent less

Tahir Javed, CEO of Riceland Health Care, discusses his business and philosophical mindset as a health care provider from his office at Starco Impex, a consumer goods distribution business of which he is also ... more

Photo: Kim Brent

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Nick Lampson, Vice President of Operations for Riceland Health Care, describes success stories from the provider's psychiatric services at their hospital in Winnie. Riceland now owns and operates the Imaging Center at the Altus Cancer Center in Beaumont.
Photo taken Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Photo by Kim Brent less

Nick Lampson, Vice President of Operations for Riceland Health Care, describes success stories from the provider's psychiatric services at their hospital in Winnie. Riceland now owns and operates the Imaging ... more

Riceland chief executive M. Tahir Javed said his goal is to grow the number of patients Riceland has contact with to at least 3,000 by next June.

Once that benchmark is reached, Riceland can attract physicians who have relationships with another 3,000 patients. That would qualify Riceland as an "accountable care organization," a crucial designation for relationships with insurers.

Nick Lampson, a former member of Congress who first represented the Beaumont area and then a region west of Houston, is Riceland's vice president of operations. His interest is in building the medical company's mental health component, particularly for veterans.

Riceland also is negotiating to acquire other rurally based health-care providers. The company has grown from the six employees at the former Triangle Hospice - now called Riceland Hospice - to more than 400 across its various locations, Lampson said.

Javed, a native of Pakistan, also is chief executive of Starco Impex, which distributes consumer goods from its headquarters in Beaumont to stores nationwide.

He started his distribution business in 1989 and became interested in health care when his mother-in-law required hospice service.

The hospice that cared for her was Triangle Hospice on Cardinal Drive, which Javed later acquired. He changed the name to Riceland after his acquisition of the former Winnie Community Hospital almost a year and a half ago.

He rebranded the hospital to make it less Winnie-centered and more regionally focused.

Earlier this year, Javed opened a Riceland health clinic in Crystal Beach because the Bolivar Peninsula had no permanent emergency health clinic.

Riceland also recently acquired Physicians Link, a home health care company in Silsbee.

The Altus Imaging Center on North 11th Street in Beaumont is equipped with what Javed said is the only "stand-up MRI" machine in the area, which allows patients to watch TV while undergoing imaging. It eliminates lying down on a trolley and being sent into the cylindrical imaging machine, which causes some patients to feel claustrophobic.

The imaging center offers services from ultra-sounds to CT scans. It occupies the first floor of the Altus center on 11th Street.

Altus will continue to operate its outpatient surgical center and cancer treatment center at the North 11th Street building.